Aline Et Valcour, Ou Le Roman Philosophique. Tome 2
1795
Published in 1795, 'Aline Et Valcour, Ou Le Roman Philosophique. Tome 2' by marquis de Sade is a philosophical novel that delves into the passionate relationship between Léonore and Sainville. As they navigate societal constraints and familial opposition, the narrative examines themes of desire, freedom, and moral dilemmas associated with love. The second volume introduces Sainville's reflections on their challenges, including an arranged marriage that threatens their bond, and his desperate plan to rescue Léonore from a convent, highlighting the urgency of their struggle for happiness.
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“We owe more to habit than to Nature, my friend. The latter creates us; the other shapes us.””
— marquis de Sade
“Slender and lissome, Zilia had skin of the purest white and features the very emblem of candor and modesty; her large dark blue eyes, more tender than lively, seemed to express love at the height of delicacy, sentiment at its most voluptuous. Her mouth was deliciously formed, her teeth white and beautiful; she seemed a little pale until one's gaze fell upon her and then she burst to life, fresh as a rose. Her brow was noble, her hair, so nicely patterned, ashen blonde in great quantity, elegantly matched by the gracious contours of her veil, streaming across alabaster breasts, always exposed in accord with the fashion of the country”
— marquis de Sade
“For any citizen who does wrong you must have but one objective. If you wish to be fair, let his punishment be useful to him and others; anything that deviates from that aim is infamy.””
— marquis de Sade
“On the altar steps before my eyes was the most horrible scene. The King had just committed a human sacrifice; this palace was also his temple. His just-murdered victims were still palpitating at the feet of the idol. Lacerations covered the wretched victims and blood flowed everywhere, with heads separated from bodies”
— marquis de Sade
“For the state is everything here. It nourishes the citizen, raises his children, cares for him, judges and condemns him; and of this state I am merely the first citizen.””
— marquis de Sade
“Think again, Frenchman”
— marquis de Sade
“Everywhere I saw much vice and little virtue; everywhere I found the vanity, envy, avarice, and intemperance that enslaved the weak to the whims of the strong; everywhere I could divide man into two classes, to be pitied equally. In one, the rich man was a slave to his pleasures; in the other, the poor man a victim of fate”
— marquis de Sade
“That men cannot do without the absurd idea of an afterlife is a peculiar mania of mankind.””
— marquis de Sade
“Virtue, always more useful to others than to us, is not the essential thing; truth alone serves us and if we find it only by moving away from virtue, is it not better to reach the light by such diversion than remain in the dark and be a good-hearted dupe?””
— marquis de Sade
